NYLS Journal of International and Comparative Law Volume 10 Number 2 VOLUME 10 NUMBER 2 1989 Article 6 1989 A SURVEY OF LAWS AND POLICIES REGULATING FOREIGN OWNERSHIP OF LAND IN THE WEST INDIES: GUARDING AGAINST FOREIGN DOMINATION Mark A. Gloade Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.nyls.edu/ journal_of_international_and_comparative_law Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Gloade, Mark A. (1989) "A SURVEY OF LAWS AND POLICIES REGULATING FOREIGN OWNERSHIP OF LAND IN THE WEST INDIES: GUARDING AGAINST FOREIGN DOMINATION," NYLS Journal of International and Comparative Law: Vol. 10 : No. 2 , Article 6. Available at: https://digitalcommons.nyls.edu/journal_of_international_and_comparative_law/vol10/iss2/ 6 This Notes and Comments is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@NYLS. It has been accepted for inclusion in NYLS Journal of International and Comparative Law by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@NYLS. A SURVEY OF LAWS AND POLICIES REGULATING FOREIGN OWNERSHIP OF LAND IN THE WEST INDIES:' GUARDING AGAINST FOREIGN DOMINATION 2 I. INTRODUCTION It is apparent from any treatise of West Indian history that the region's past has been characterized by extra-regional domination.3 Given the history of domination, it should come as no surprise that the Islands' inhabitants would seek some avenues of protection against continued domination. This Note examines the proposition that the Islands' laws and government policies which restrict foreign ownership of land are symptomatic of the desire on the part of their people to maintain some semblance of control over their lives, to foster a sense of autonomy, and to assure that their small and vulnerable economies4 are developed in a 1. It is important to note at the outset of this survey that although many of the sources cited herein refer to the "Caribbean" and not to the "West Indies," the islands of the West Indies are subsumed under the general geographic designation of "Caribbean." See THE RANDOM HOUSE DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE (2d ed. 1987). In addition, the sources consulted offer differing definitions of the geographical boundaries and which islands constitute the West Indies. Two representative definitions are those offered by Philip M. Sherlock and the World Book Encyclopedia. According to Sherlock, the designation "West Indies" once referred to the Caribbean archipelago (stretching from the Bahamas in the north to Trinidad and Tobago in the South), but today, the designation is limited to Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, the Leeward Islands - the Virgin Islands, Anguilla, St. Martin, Saba, St. Christopher and Nevis [hereinafter St. Kitts-Nevis], Antigua and Barbuda, Montserrat, Guadaloupe; and the Windward Islands - Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada. See P. M. SHERLOCK, WEST INDIES 7 (1966). The World Book Encyclopedia, however, defines the modern day West Indies as consisting of three major groups of islands: The Bahamas - the Bahamas, Turks and Cacaos Islands; The Greater Antilles - Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico; and the Lesser Antilles - the Leeward and Windward Islands, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao (the latter three are also collectively referred to as the Netherlands Antilles). See 21 WoRLD BOOK ENCYCLOPEDIA 165 (1984). In accordance with the most recent definitions, this Note will refer to the West Indies as defined in the World Book Encyclopedia. 2. The islands which are surveyed in this Note were chosen from among the independent English speaking nations of the West Indies. 3. See generally, F. AUGIER, S. GORDON, D. HALL & M. RECKFORD, THE MAKING OF THE WEST INDIES (1960) [hereinafter F. AUGIER]; E. WILLIAMS, FROM COLUMBUS TO CASTRO, THE HISTORY OF THE CARIBBEAN, 1492-1969 (1970); F. KNIGHT, THE CARIBBEAN, THE GENESIS OF A FRAGMENTED NATIONAUSM (1978). 4. See Crossette, The Caribbean After Grenada, N.Y. Times, Mar. 18, 1984, § D (Magazine), at 63, col. I ("These places cannot get along without outside investment, outside technology. Alone, they are not viable"); Enders, A Comprehensive Strategyfor the CaribbeanBasin: The U.S. and Her Neighbors, CARIBBEAN REV., Spring 1982,'at 10, 12 (The countries have "very major economic difficulties"); Baker & Toro-Montserrate, CBI v. N.Y.L- ScH. J. INTL & Comp. L. [Vol. 10 manner consistent with their long term developmental interests. The islands which this Note will survey are: Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, Saint Christopher-Nevis ("St. Kitts-Nevis"), St. Vincent and the Grena- dines, Dominica and The Bahamas (collectively the "Islands").5 HI. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Europeans first became aware of the existence of the West Indies in 1492 when Christopher Columbus landed on San Salvador (now called Wattling Island) in the Bahamas.6 Columbus' discovery of this "new world" marked the beginning of the region's domination by external powers,7 a domination which continues today, though not in the traditional colonial context of the period prior to the 1960s,8 but rather in a dependency-based, hegemonic paradigm.9 CARICOM, The Interplay Between Two InternationalLaw Instumnents, 11 N.C. J. INT'L & COM. REG. 3 (Winter 1986) (These islands are handicapped by their "small size, economic fragmentation and extensive dependence on extra-regional markets and suppliers of resources of all kinds"); E. Wuimss, supra note 3, at 512 ("IThere are obvious limits to the scope for a more independent strategy of development in the Commonwealth Caribbean countries because of small size"); Lewis, The U.S. and the Caribbean:Issues of Economics and Security, CARIBBEAN REv., Spring 1982, at 6, 9 ("[k]nown facts of the small, dependent character of Caribbean economies and their vulnerability to external political economic pressure."). 5. Although not surveyed here, Trinidad and Tobago also restrict foreign ownership of land (see infra note 136), as does St. Lucia. Telephone interview with Charles Flemming, Charge d'affaires, St. Lucia Mission to the United Nations, in New York City (Sept. 22, 1988) (on file at the office of N.Y.L. SCH. J. INT'L & COMP. L.) [hereinafter Flemming Interview]. Barbados, however, does not have any restrictions on foreign ownership of land. Telephone interview with T. Wilchire, Vice-Consul, Barbados Consulate General, in New York City (Sept. 23, 1988) (on file at the office of the N.Y.L. SCH. J. INT'L & COMP. L.) [hereinafter Wilchire Interview], and consistently ranks as one of the more prosperous nations in the region. See Pelzman & Schoepfle, The Impact of the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act on Caribbean Nations' Exports and Development, 36 EcoN. DEv. & CULTURAL CHANGE 753, 758 (July 1988). 6. See F. AUGIER, supra note 3, at 9. 7. Up to the point of Columbus' discovery of the West Indies, the Islands were inhabited by three groups of indians: the Caribs, the Taino Arawaks, and the Ciboney or Guanahuatebey. Although the groups sometimes raided each other to procure slaves, and the Caribs - a migratory group from South America - had been steadily encroaching upon the territory held by the Arawaks, no one group dominated the region. See F. KNIGHT, supra note 3, at 6-20. 8. Cambridge, Effects of the CaribbeanBasin Initiative, 75 MGM.rr. REv. 54, 56 (Oct. 1986). 9. F. KNIGrr, supra note 3, at 180; Michael Manley, Prime Minister of Jamaica (re- elected in national elections on Feb. 9, 1989 after an eight year rule by Edward Seaga. See Manley Victorious, Caribbean Contact, Mar. 1989, at 2, col. 1, refers to this new colonialism as "neocolonialism". See Manley, Grenadain the Context of History, Between Neocolonialism and Independence, CARIBBEAN RsV., Spring 1985, at 9. The traditional colonialism model is the physical/military control of a territory to provide the conquering nation with resources. 19901 FOREIGN OWNERSHIP OF WEST INDIES LAND With Columbus' discovery, the Spanish proceeded to build an economic system designed to exploit the riches of the new world.10 To accomplish this task, however, cheap labor was needed. In the first stages of the Spanish domination of the new world, they used the native Indians to do heavy manual work." Unfortunately, the natives were unaccustomed to the long hours of work imposed on them by the Spanish.12 The eventual result of the system of enslavement imposed by the Spanish was the extermination of most of the Indian population within a few decades of the Spanish arrival in the new world.3 The demise of the Indian population presented the Spanish with the problem of being in possession of a vast empire without a labor force with which to exploit it; they solved this problem by looking across the Atlantic to Africa. 4 The people they imported from the African continent would become the ancestors of most of today's West Indians.u The systematic exploitation of the Caribbean by the Spanish continued relatively unabated until the end of the 17th century. It was at this time that other European nations began to establish a foothold in the region,16 thus commencing the erosion of the Spanish Empire that would continue into the 18th century. This decline was due in large part to the rise in the fortunes of the British who began to make their presence known in the Caribbean and particularly in the West Indies where they acquired a foothold of several islands." The hegemonic paradigm on the other hand involves the establishment of spheres of influences and cultural domination (this is the concept of the Caribbean as "America's backyard"). 10. See F. KNtfOr, supra note 3, at 24. 11. See F. AuGIme, supra note 3, at 12. 12. Id. at 13. 13. Id; F. KNIGHT, supra note 3, at 29. 14. See F. AuGiEs, supra note 3, at 13; F. KmIGtr, supra note 3, at 46-49. See generally Knight & Crahan, The African Migration and the Origins of an Afro-American Society and Culture, in AFRICAN AND THE CARIBBEAN, LEGACIES OF A LINK (M.